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G. E. Aylmer, Rebellion or Revolution?
NOTE:
Monday: pp. 1-69
Wednesday: pp. 69-102, 131-148
Friday: pp. 148-205
General
1) What is the meaning of the title? What main idea does Aylmer seek to explore?
Chapter 1: Reform
1) Why does this chapter get the title "Reform"?
2) Why had the king embarked upon "Personal Rule"? Which policies associated with the "Personal Rule" most antagonized the people of England?
3) What specifically set off the Scottish troubles?
4) What was the outcome of the first "bishop's war" between Scotland and England? Why did Charles I concede so much at the Pacification of Berwick (1639)?
5) Why did Charles I feel compelled to call a parliament in 1640? Why does Aylmer feel that this parliament need not have been a "short parliament"?
6) Why did the second "bishop's war" place Charles I in such a weak position with regard to the "Long Parliament? What two promising policies could he have pursued with regard to the "Long Parliament"?
7) How did the Triennial Act curtail the king's powers? What about the act stipulating that the king could not dissolve, prorogue, or adjourn Parliament without its consent? How else did Parliament limit the king's powers?
Chapter 2: Rebellion
1) Why is it significant that Aylmer entitled this chapter "Rebellion"? In other words, why and where did reform end and rebellion start?
2) Who were the three major groups in Irish politics and what political role did they play? Who dominated Irish politics and the Irish Parliament?
3) Why did the Old Irish rebel in October 1641?
4) To what extent did religious opinion truly play a role in the worsening of the situation in 1641-1642? How did religion unite and divide the King's party and the Parliamentary party?
5) Why did Charles' attempt to arrest one peer and five MPs so damage his reputation?
6) According to Aylmer, if so many people favored peace, why did war break out?
7) Does Aylmer think the war was an aristocratic rebellion? If not, what was it?
8) Generally, which groups fought for the King? Which groups fought for Parliament? Was there some sort of cultural difference between the two sides?
Chapter 3: War
1) When did the English Civil War start?
2) Geographically, where did the king draw most of his recruits and support? Where did the Commons draw its recruits and support?
3) Until what point in the war did the Royalists seem to have the best of it?
4) What accounts for the shift in the political position of the Scots?
5) How many sides were there in the Irish war? What did each side stand for?
6) In 1643, what did the Assembly of Divines called by Parliament decide the English Church should look like? Who opposed this religious settlement and why? What role did the newfound freedom of the press play in creating religious division on the Parliamentary side? Why did the settlement fail?
7) What changes did Parliament undertake to enhance its military effectiveness?
8) What is the significance of the battle of Naseby (1645)?
9) What is the significance of Sir Jacob Astley's observation: "You have now done your work, boys, and may go to play, unless you will fall out amongst yourselves." During the war, how easy could it have been to foresee post-war political and social conflict?
Chapter 4: Revolution
1) What does Aylmer seem to indicate by giving this title to this chapter?
2) Why was the Presbyterian system of church government the major stumbling block to a peace settlement between Parliament, the King, and the Scots?
3) During the negotiations, why did Charles I repeatedly stall for time in 1646 and 1647?
4) What threatened Parliamentary solidarity after the military defeat of Charles I? What threatened to turn the Parliamentary army against Parliament?
5) In what way did the Parliamentary army threaten to divide in 1647? What was the Leveller challenge? What brought the army back together again?
6) How did the royalists plan to recoup their fortunes in 1648? Why did the Scots come to Charles I's aid in 1648?
7) After the second Civil War (1648), over what issues did Parliament and its army divide? How did each wish to deal with Charles I? What political and social reforms did different groups propose at this time? Who won the argument between Parliament and the army?
8) How did Pride's Purge of Parliament (December 1648) and the execution of Charles I (February 1649) narrow support for the regime?
9) What does Aylmer mean when he writes: "Just as it had required all the circumstances and developments of the 1630s to bring about the situation of 1640-1641, so it took the whole of those of 1640-2 to make possible the Civil War of 1642 and after. Likewise it required all that happened during and after the Civil War, and especially its renewal in 1648, to bring about the events of 1648-9." What is the "argument of this book"? (p. 101)
Chapter 6: The Contradictions
of the Commonwealth
1) Why did the execution of Charles I prove disastrous for the Commonwealth?
2) In what way did Cromwell possess conservative instincts?
3) What did the Levellers demand in 1649? Did they, or the Diggers and Ranters, constitute a clear threat to the Commonwealth?
4) Who perhaps constituted the far more dangerous threat to the Commonwealth?
5) After 1649, what steps did the Commonwealth take to prevent a royalist comeback "from outside"?
6) What was the "unresolved paradox" of the Commonwealth?
7) Despite its massive revenues, why was the Commonwealth perpetually short of cash?
8) Why did the army under Cromwell turn against the Rump Parliament?
9) What accounted for the demise of the subsequent Nominated, Little, or "Barebones" Parliament?
Chapter 7: Problems
of the Protectorate
1) Aylmer asserts that the formal institutions created by Cromwell conflicted with his desires and priorities. How did the Instrument of Government, which succeeded the Barebones Parliament, highlight this conflict?
2) What kind of Parliament did the election of 1654—the first election since 1640—produce? What kinds of opinions seemed to predominate in this Parliament? What did the MPs seem to think about the Instrument of Government?
3) Why did Cromwell dissolve the Parliament of 1656? Fear of republicans and millenarians joining hands in political alliance against him?
4) Who were the Cromwellians? What accounted for their fairly rapid demise after Cromwell's death?
5) What did the Parliament of 1658 look like? How was it divided? Why did Richard Cromwell dissolve this Parliament? Why did Richard Cromwell resign? Who put the Rump Parliament back into power?
Chapter 8: Decline and
Fall
1) Was the restoration of the Stuarts inevitable by 1658?
2) What old problem did the Rump Parliament of 1659 fail to resolve?
3) Who dissolved the Rump Parliament in 1659?
4) What was it about Monck and his forces in Scotland that allowed him to play a special role in English politics after the dissolution of the Rump in 1659?
5) What was unique about the political situation in autumn 1659? Why could the army no longer continue to determine the course of politics?
6) What accounts for the tremendous resurgence of royalist feeling in 1659?
7) What did Monck do to the Rump that changed its entire complexion?
8) How did Charles II facilitate his return by issuing the Declaration of Breda?
9) Was the Restoration a return to the status quo ante of 1641? How?
10) What answer does Aylmer give to the question of "Rebellion or Revolution?"
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by Hugh Dubrulle, 2001
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